Creating and Loading Assets

Create a New Asset

Create a new asset by clicking the Create Asset button on the top of the Calculator's dashboard page.

This will bring up the Create Asset panel.

Here, add detail about the asset in question:

• Asset Name: provide the asset name.

• Project Start: enter the year that ECCMs will be applied by default

• Country: select the country where the asset is located.
  • Note: if your asset is in a country not in the available Country dropdown list, request a new country. Consider selecting another country and entering a city with similar climate zone to your project as a proxy.

• Location: after selecting a country, enter the address or city of your project.

• Use Type: select the asset's use type. You can select up to two use types.

• Total Gross Floor Area: input the size of the asset. If selecting multiple use types, enter the breakout of space type for each as a percentage.

• Number of Floors: input the asset's number of above grade floors.

• Original Construction or Last Major Renovation: select when the asset underwent its last major renovation. If the asset has not undergone a major renovation, select when it was originally constructed.
  • Note: the methodology used to determine baseline buildings for Asset and Portfolio analysis references a specific building vintage and prototype model. For more details, see here.

• System of Measurement: select either SI (metric) or IP (imperial)

• Currency: select the currency units used in the analysis.

• Additional Analyses: select additional optional analyses to add to the asset.

• Energy Use Intensity (EUI): enter the baseline EUI if known, this will override the default baseline EUI and be used to calibrate all scenario results. You can also override the default breakout of energy use by fuel type here by entering the Percent age of EUI from Electricity. These are optional inputs and not required to proceed with the analysis.

• EV Charging: Enter the number of EV chargers currently present, and override default assumptions on the type of chargers and usage profile if desired.

When you've filled out all the necessary data, click Create and proceed to the Asset-level analysis screen.

Upon creating the asset, you will be redirected to the asset-level analysis page with an automatically created set of scenarios specific to your asset.

After its initial creation, all changes to the asset and its scenarios are automatically saved.

Loading a Saved Asset

On the Dashboard page, a previously created asset can be loaded by clicking that Asset's row on the dashboard. The row contains some information describing the Asset for cases when the Project Name alone is not descriptive enough.

The most recently edited asset can always be reloaded by navigating directly to the asset-level analysis page in the left navigation bar.

Visualizing Asset Scenarios

In the asset-level analysis page, you will see a list of all current scenarios in a list on the left and a set of figures which visualize the results in a panel on the right. You can switch between figures using the titles above the figures to the right.

Summary

The Summary tab provides a tabular overview of all the scenarios, as well as dot plots comparing key metrics between them. Hovering your cursor over the column headers will give an explanation of that metric.

Optimization

The Optimization tab enables you to plot possible scenarios on a chart with user-defined axes (ex: investment required vs total emissions). You can filter the scenarios to identify those that meet your criteria (ex: cost payback is less than 10 years), and add select scenarios to the asset by clicking on the dot within the chart, and clicking "Add Scenario to Asset".

Note: each time the "Edit Asset" or "Edit Costs" modals are modified, the optimization tab will be regenerated.

Energy Use

The Energy Use tab shows the annual energy use for each scenario by end use. Hovering over any of the bars will give you energy consumption by end use category for that scenario. You can also toggle this chart to view energy use by fuel type.

Time Series

The Time Series tab shows cumulative cost or carbon emissions over time, as well as annual cost or carbon emissions. Hovering your cursor over any year will give you information for each scenario in that year.

Cumulative Emissions vs. Cost

The Emissions vs. Cost tab shows total cost plotted against total emissions, evaluated over the entire time horizon. Hovering your cursor over any point will give you total cost and total emissions data for that scenario.

NYC LL97 Analysis

For Assets located in the USA, an additional NYC LL97 Analysis Tab can be added by clicking Edit Asset, and then selecting Add NYC LL97 Analysis Tab.

The NYC LL97 tab shows annual penalties (cost) or annual carbon emissions in comparison to the LL97 limit. Hovering your cursor over any year will give you information for each scenario in that year.

For more information on LL97 and how it was integrated within the Impact Building Calculator, click here.

CRREM Analysis

An additional CRREM Analysis Tab can be added by clicking Edit Asset, and then selecting Add CRREM Analysis Tab.

The CRREM tab shows annual operational carbon emissions in comparison to the CRREM limit. Hovering your cursor over any year will give you information for each scenario in that year.

For more information on CRREM, its methodology, and how it was integrated within the Impact Building Calculator, click here.

Asset Information

To modify the asset's information, click the Edit Asset button on the top of the Calculator's asset page.

This will bring up the Edit Asset panel.

Here, you will be able to edit some of the asset's details. Note, some asset details cannot be modified after creating an asset, such as asset type.

After modifying the details, click Save to proceed to the Scenario analysis screen.

Editing Cost Data

Asset Energy Costs

Edit the asset's cost data by clicking the Edit Costs button on the top of the Calculator's asset page.

This will bring up the Asset Costs panel.

Here, enter custom Electricity and Gas costs. If the fields are left blank, default values will be used. If necessary, modify the currency units in the Settings menu.

Additionally, custom ECCM costs can be entered for each ECCM in use. Note, an ECCM must first be added to at least one of the asset's scenarios before custom cost data can be input.

After inputting custom Asset Costs, click Save to proceed to the Scenario analysis screen.

Creating a Scenario

Create a New Scenario

Create a new scenario by clicking the Create Scenario button on the top of the Calculator's asset page.

This will bring up the Scenario Information panel.

Here, name the new scenario and select the ECCMs to include in the new scenario. Remember, not all ECCMs are available for all building use types. Read more information on ECCMs.

After selecting the ECCMs, click Save to proceed to the Scenario analysis screen.